miga.

Cold winter days means I'm more inclined towards something steaming hot or spicy to warm me up.  Korean food satisfies both of those conditions, which was why my family was drawn towards Miga on a wintry weekend afternoon.  It's close to Bread Garden on Payneham Road, and there's a small parking lot behind the restaurant where the back door is open for entry.



Kimchi & Seafood Pancake: $12.00

 A thing I judge a Korean restaurant by is their abilitiy to make a good 'jeon' (pancake).  There are two ways of doing it - thick and doughy or thin and crispy.  This one fell into the latter category and was excellent.  The pancake wasn't soggy or oily and each of the ingredients (onions, capsicum, spring onions, seafood and kimchi) had their own distinctive taste.  It's a large serve but I could have eaten the whole thing - it was that good.

Dolsot Bibimbap: $12.50

 I've written about bibimbap before, so this one was very similar except that it came out on a hot stone bowl.  The stone bowl traps the heat inside so everything inside continues cooking while you're eating, which is perfect for cold, rainy days.  The bibimbap comes out with a bowl of seaweed soup which is helpful in alleviating some of the heat from the chilli paste.

Tofu Stew: $13.50

Bubbling away in a stone pot, the stew came out steaming hot and was served with a big bowl of rice. Soondubu (i.e. tofu stew) traditionally comes with seafood and there was lot of it - prawns, mussels, squid, octopus and there may even have been a piece of crab in there.  The stew had heaps of flavour thanks to the seafood and onions and was generously portioned.

Tempura Prawn Udon: $12.50

For non-chilli eaters there are other options, such as the udon above.  This also came out steaming hot and was filled with thick, doughy udon noodles, mushrooms and fishcake.

Considering it's a pretty small place with only one main chef and another assistant in the kitchen, we didn't have to wait too long for our meals.   Drinks didn't come until halfway through our meal but that was understandable since it had suddenly become extremely full and there was only one waitress.